1
00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:04,240
Speaker 1: The following episode was recorded before the WGA sag Aftra

2
00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:06,960
Speaker 1: strikes of twenty twenty three.

3
00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:10,040
Speaker 2: We have a guest that I have a very very

4
00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:14,440
Speaker 2: warm spot in my heart for mister Ron Functious. I

5
00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:20,520
Speaker 2: met Ron in La six degrees dot Org was going

6
00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:24,799
Speaker 2: down to skid Row to an organization called School on

7
00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:30,120
Speaker 2: Wheels that provides tutoring for unhoused kids in Los Angeles area.

8
00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:34,760
Speaker 2: We were hoping to get another celebrity to show up

9
00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:39,400
Speaker 2: with us, and we had reached out to Ron just

10
00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:43,560
Speaker 2: with a cold call, basically saying, Hey, we're going to

11
00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:46,760
Speaker 2: show up at School on Wheels down in skid Row.

12
00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:49,640
Speaker 2: Any chance you could come and hang out with the

13
00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:52,000
Speaker 2: kids for a while and see what they're up to?

14
00:00:53,159 --> 00:00:56,760
Speaker 2: And he said, yes, I didn't know him, he didn't

15
00:00:56,760 --> 00:01:00,640
Speaker 2: know me, and I think that really speaks to the

16
00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:02,920
Speaker 2: kind of man that he is. I was thrilled that

17
00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:05,200
Speaker 2: he was willing to sit down and shoot the breeze

18
00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:06,000
Speaker 2: with me a little bit.

19
00:01:06,319 --> 00:01:19,039
Speaker 3: So here's Ron funchers.

20
00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:16,120
Speaker 4: Ron.

21
00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:17,520
Speaker 3: So good to see you.

22
00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:19,040
Speaker 4: Good to see you again, Kevin.

23
00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:19,600
Speaker 2: How are you.

24
00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:20,600
Speaker 3: I'm good.

25
00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:23,520
Speaker 2: I'm doing absolutely fine.

26
00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:24,000
Speaker 3: Thank you.

27
00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:27,360
Speaker 2: How long has it been now? They tell me six

28
00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:32,080
Speaker 2: years since we were in the same space together. I think,

29
00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:33,720
Speaker 2: I don't know, Yeah, the.

30
00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:37,760
Speaker 5: Time doesn't exist even before the pandemic to me, so

31
00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:40,479
Speaker 5: even more so now you could say it was ten

32
00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:43,360
Speaker 5: years ago, it's always last week in my mind. It

33
00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:45,920
Speaker 5: was such a fun time getting to meet you and

34
00:01:45,959 --> 00:01:50,400
Speaker 5: going to school on wheels and just really opened my

35
00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:52,520
Speaker 5: eyes to a lot of things. So I really appreciate

36
00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:55,320
Speaker 5: I don't think I ever said that thank you for that.

37
00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:57,200
Speaker 3: Well, listen, thank you.

38
00:01:57,320 --> 00:01:59,880
Speaker 2: I mean that was We're obviously going to talk about

39
00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:04,120
Speaker 2: school on wheels, but that was like so cool that

40
00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:07,800
Speaker 2: you just kind of showed up and you know, people,

41
00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:10,120
Speaker 2: a lot of what this podcast is about is about

42
00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:15,200
Speaker 2: meet people who outside how can I say this, We

43
00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:21,000
Speaker 2: live and operate in such a self involved kind of

44
00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:28,480
Speaker 2: worlds as performers, and you know, in order to make it,

45
00:02:28,639 --> 00:02:33,240
Speaker 2: in order to like fight your way through all the

46
00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:34,920
Speaker 2: people in the world that want to be in the

47
00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:37,760
Speaker 2: entertainment industry, you have to have a very very serious

48
00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:42,720
Speaker 2: focus on yourself, especially if you're an actor. So when

49
00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:45,359
Speaker 2: I meet people like you who were willing to do

50
00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:52,720
Speaker 2: something outside of your own sphere of career, it's always

51
00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:55,480
Speaker 2: kind of impressive to me. What do you think is

52
00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:59,200
Speaker 2: that is about you that you know? I don't know.

53
00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:00,640
Speaker 3: Has that imputuce?

54
00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:02,080
Speaker 6: Well?

55
00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:05,280
Speaker 5: First thing, I'd say, I think it helped that I

56
00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:07,120
Speaker 5: wasn't an actor to start out with.

57
00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:09,040
Speaker 3: You agree, I agree.

58
00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:13,760
Speaker 5: A lot of people who I haven't met who are

59
00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:16,600
Speaker 5: straight actors and I and I get It's like you said,

60
00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:20,680
Speaker 5: it takes a And some of these words are gonna

61
00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:23,320
Speaker 5: sound negative, but I don't mean them in any negative connotation.

62
00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:27,519
Speaker 4: But it takes a certain delusion to believe.

63
00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:31,000
Speaker 5: That you're special enough to believe that you can, to

64
00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:35,160
Speaker 5: believe not only just believe that, but to have people

65
00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:39,160
Speaker 5: reject you over and over and over again, and your

66
00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:42,200
Speaker 5: mind state be, no, you're wrong, I'm great.

67
00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:43,920
Speaker 4: You just don't see it yet.

68
00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:44,640
Speaker 3: You know.

69
00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:49,880
Speaker 5: That takes a certain delusion, a certain selfishness that I think,

70
00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:54,160
Speaker 5: in some ways, I'm very glad that I found I

71
00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:57,440
Speaker 5: came from. I come from the world of stand up comedy,

72
00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:00,680
Speaker 5: and a lot of that is the opposite people pleaser.

73
00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:05,600
Speaker 5: I'm coming from a trauma based background where you know,

74
00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:08,680
Speaker 5: I grew up in an unstable house where my mom

75
00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:11,520
Speaker 5: was in an abusive relationship, and a lot of that

76
00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:13,880
Speaker 5: time as a kid was me spent trying.

77
00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:17,520
Speaker 4: To keep the house at peace. So you know, a

78
00:04:17,520 --> 00:04:18,480
Speaker 4: lot of that comes with the.

79
00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:21,160
Speaker 5: Charm and trying to be funny and trying to and

80
00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:24,160
Speaker 5: so and and and a lot of times at at

81
00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:25,760
Speaker 5: an expense.

82
00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:29,120
Speaker 4: Of my own needs or my own wants.

83
00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:31,359
Speaker 2: Let me just stick into that for one second, because

84
00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:33,600
Speaker 2: because you put your finger, I was thinking about talking

85
00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:38,359
Speaker 2: to you today, and I was refreshing myself on some

86
00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:44,720
Speaker 2: of your hilarious stand up which is available. Folks. You

87
00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:51,080
Speaker 2: gotta see ron stand up because it is absolutely singular,

88
00:04:51,279 --> 00:04:56,240
Speaker 2: both in the material but also in the deliveryank, you know,

89
00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:59,720
Speaker 2: not not really like anybody that you've ever seen before.

90
00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:03,799
Speaker 2: And I was thinking about comics. I've spent some time

91
00:05:03,839 --> 00:05:08,719
Speaker 2: around the comics. I love to go to comedy. I

92
00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:11,039
Speaker 2: think the reason that I like to go to comedy

93
00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:17,279
Speaker 2: is because it is so dangerous. It feels so risky

94
00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:21,880
Speaker 2: to be out there. And I also like to go

95
00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:28,240
Speaker 2: to it because I can tell that I'm correct me

96
00:05:28,279 --> 00:05:32,520
Speaker 2: if I'm wrong. Most comics are coming to this from

97
00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:38,400
Speaker 2: a perspective, from a painful perspective A lot.

98
00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:39,040
Speaker 3: Yeah.

99
00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:42,680
Speaker 2: I mean, would you say the majority or or I mean,

100
00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:45,479
Speaker 2: do you know any comics who had a really chill

101
00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:46,960
Speaker 2: and happy childhood.

102
00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:50,000
Speaker 5: I know you, I know a couple and that's what

103
00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:53,560
Speaker 5: makes it. I find them to be the weirdest of all.

104
00:05:56,640 --> 00:05:59,279
Speaker 5: How did you have a good background and you still

105
00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:02,800
Speaker 5: end up But for the most part, yeah, I think

106
00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:03,600
Speaker 5: a lot of it.

107
00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:06,599
Speaker 4: You find a lot of people with similar stories.

108
00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:10,640
Speaker 5: They may be, you know, very unique to their perspective,

109
00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:14,000
Speaker 5: Like you know me coming from a background where my

110
00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:16,440
Speaker 5: mom was in an abusive relationship, and then having a

111
00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:19,279
Speaker 5: son very early at my son a month after I

112
00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:22,280
Speaker 5: turned twenty, and then he was diagnosed with autism two

113
00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:25,680
Speaker 5: years later, and it's like all these different traumas that

114
00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:27,839
Speaker 5: tweaked my brain to a certain way where I was like,

115
00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:29,680
Speaker 5: I'm just gonna do what I want, and what i

116
00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:32,000
Speaker 5: want to do is comedy, and I'm gonna figure it out.

117
00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:34,400
Speaker 5: And you find a lot of people have these stories,

118
00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:37,560
Speaker 5: and then I think one of the biggest things you

119
00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:39,839
Speaker 5: have to do is then let go of that story

120
00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:42,440
Speaker 5: and just be like, well, I'm here now, that doesn't

121
00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:43,560
Speaker 5: serve me anymore.

122
00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:47,600
Speaker 4: I just need to work and enjoy my life and

123
00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:48,160
Speaker 4: build a life.

124
00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:51,760
Speaker 5: And that, I think is what made me more open

125
00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:55,680
Speaker 5: to being involved in charities. Is that I'm like, Oh,

126
00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:58,640
Speaker 5: I'm not in this moment where I'm like I can

127
00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:01,359
Speaker 5: play like, oh I'm a big doing my life's been tough,

128
00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:04,599
Speaker 5: and it's all those things may be true, but but

129
00:07:05,320 --> 00:07:07,760
Speaker 5: they don't do any service right now. So I have

130
00:07:07,839 --> 00:07:11,200
Speaker 5: to go out there and actually be a positive in

131
00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:13,360
Speaker 5: the world. And again, just so with my son having

132
00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:16,520
Speaker 5: autism from an early age, I be which by the way.

133
00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:19,800
Speaker 2: You've you've you've you've mined uh and are very open

134
00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:22,320
Speaker 2: about it in your in your comedy, and.

135
00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:24,120
Speaker 3: And it's it is Again.

136
00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:27,000
Speaker 2: That's another thing that's so interesting about about you as

137
00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:30,040
Speaker 2: a performer that you take something and you put it

138
00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:33,880
Speaker 2: out there, but you put it out there in not

139
00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:37,800
Speaker 2: in a sentimental way, but at all you know, you're

140
00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:41,160
Speaker 2: very uh. It's pretty edgy some of the stuff that

141
00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:43,400
Speaker 2: that comes out, But at the same time, it's so

142
00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:46,000
Speaker 2: clear that it comes from a loving place that it

143
00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:50,800
Speaker 2: it it it It lends a kind of a depth

144
00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:53,640
Speaker 2: to to the show that I think is just so awesome.

145
00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:55,400
Speaker 4: I really appreciate that.

146
00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:58,520
Speaker 5: Yeah, I just try to be realistic in my life

147
00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:01,600
Speaker 5: and in some of the ways that I had seen

148
00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:06,560
Speaker 5: autism portrayed or just out in the media was always

149
00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:10,000
Speaker 5: just like whoa is me? And oh, you know, we

150
00:08:10,480 --> 00:08:15,920
Speaker 5: can't survive and these kids all are you know, almost

151
00:08:15,920 --> 00:08:17,360
Speaker 5: as if they were feral or something.

152
00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:17,960
Speaker 4: And I'm like, no, this.

153
00:08:18,120 --> 00:08:20,800
Speaker 5: I learned so much from my son and we've had

154
00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:23,520
Speaker 5: issues and we think but it doesn't define him, like

155
00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:25,960
Speaker 5: it's a part of his life. Just if if I

156
00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:29,480
Speaker 5: had diabetes, or if I had a broken arm or something,

157
00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:30,960
Speaker 5: you know, and that made that might be a little

158
00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:33,640
Speaker 5: different because of my arm would get fixed. But it's

159
00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:37,360
Speaker 5: just a part of his character sheet and that's the

160
00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:39,199
Speaker 5: way we look at it. And some of the things

161
00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:42,360
Speaker 5: are really funny. And so I never there was a

162
00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:43,839
Speaker 5: part of my life where I didn't want to talk

163
00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:45,520
Speaker 5: about it because I was afraid people would think I

164
00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:48,839
Speaker 5: was making fun of my son or or just look

165
00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:51,880
Speaker 5: at it in the perspective. But it was the opposite.

166
00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:54,720
Speaker 5: It was so true. I found so many people reached

167
00:08:54,760 --> 00:08:57,240
Speaker 5: out to me and like, oh, I have someone in

168
00:08:57,280 --> 00:08:59,800
Speaker 5: my life, or people who were who had autism who

169
00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:04,320
Speaker 5: were like, it's so nice to just be talk to

170
00:09:04,559 --> 00:09:07,760
Speaker 5: or seen as just a full persons, not like some

171
00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:10,800
Speaker 5: charity case or not something to look down on or

172
00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:13,520
Speaker 5: not a punchline. Which I had seen a lot in

173
00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:16,800
Speaker 5: comedy of just using the word autism and replace of

174
00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:18,120
Speaker 5: the R word and so.

175
00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:22,720
Speaker 4: And to me, that's not edgy, that's lazy.

176
00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:23,080
Speaker 3: You know.

177
00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:26,079
Speaker 5: So I hear you, yeah, to talk about your real life,

178
00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:27,959
Speaker 5: to talk about things going on and talk about you.

179
00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:31,120
Speaker 5: But to me, that's that's where it really, that's where

180
00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:33,000
Speaker 5: real comedy is for me, not you know, I'm not

181
00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:36,400
Speaker 5: a police a comedy, but that's my perspective.

182
00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:39,360
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, sure, and that's that's what we're interested in.

183
00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:39,920
Speaker 3: You know.

184
00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:43,280
Speaker 2: I you you made a point about the actors, and

185
00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:46,400
Speaker 2: I know that you do act you you you you've

186
00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:51,160
Speaker 2: come to an acting career and a writing career through

187
00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:56,920
Speaker 2: and a podcasting career through through uh comedy. But I

188
00:09:56,960 --> 00:10:01,719
Speaker 2: think it's very true what you said about actors, and

189
00:10:01,720 --> 00:10:04,200
Speaker 2: that is that you need to become an actor. I

190
00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:06,719
Speaker 2: think you do need a certain level of delusion. I mean,

191
00:10:06,760 --> 00:10:11,320
Speaker 2: I remember walking into auditions when I was in my

192
00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:15,240
Speaker 2: teens and and they'd say, you know, we're looking for

193
00:10:17,320 --> 00:10:19,360
Speaker 2: there was I had an audition once where they said

194
00:10:20,559 --> 00:10:27,320
Speaker 2: the director likes tight Lacoste shirts on boys. So I

195
00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:29,800
Speaker 2: walked into this room and I went out and bought,

196
00:10:30,040 --> 00:10:31,280
Speaker 2: you know, an alligator shirt.

197
00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:31,720
Speaker 3: Right.

198
00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:34,720
Speaker 2: So I've walked in this room. There's like thirty guys

199
00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:39,400
Speaker 2: with you know, you know, kind of highlighted sunny tips

200
00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:42,280
Speaker 2: on their hair, wearing like who've done like a whole

201
00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:45,120
Speaker 2: bunch of you know, push ups, and they're all wearing

202
00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:48,480
Speaker 2: these tight lacosse shirts. And I thought, fuck, I mean,

203
00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:51,000
Speaker 2: how am I supposed to like cut through this?

204
00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:51,600
Speaker 3: You know.

205
00:10:52,160 --> 00:10:56,360
Speaker 2: So, so there was a level of delusion where I

206
00:10:56,360 --> 00:10:59,960
Speaker 2: would tell myself I have something to offer.

207
00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:00,640
Speaker 4: Now.

208
00:11:00,679 --> 00:11:03,240
Speaker 2: Did I know that I had something to offer? No,

209
00:11:03,559 --> 00:11:05,640
Speaker 2: I don't think I knew that I was any good,

210
00:11:06,080 --> 00:11:08,040
Speaker 2: and I certainly I don't think I thought, wow, you're

211
00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:11,440
Speaker 2: really good. What I thought was maybe I could get better.

212
00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:14,320
Speaker 2: But I didn't think, wow, you're really good. Did you

213
00:11:14,559 --> 00:11:20,000
Speaker 2: know that you were funny? Did you have responses from

214
00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:22,080
Speaker 2: people that were encouraging of that notion?

215
00:11:23,360 --> 00:11:24,960
Speaker 4: I knew I was a funny child.

216
00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:25,440
Speaker 2: You know.

217
00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:30,280
Speaker 5: One of my earliest memories is, like I tell the

218
00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:32,800
Speaker 5: story a few times, is that just you know, my

219
00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:34,920
Speaker 5: mom was saying Mom always stressed out all the time,

220
00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:37,400
Speaker 5: and we did something to me and my sister and

221
00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:39,160
Speaker 5: she was like, you guys, go to your room, I'm

222
00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:41,480
Speaker 5: coming up in five minutes, You're getting spanked, you know.

223
00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:47,040
Speaker 5: And in that time period, I'm upstairs scared, but I'm

224
00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:49,400
Speaker 5: cracking jokes to my sister, making fun of my mom,

225
00:11:49,559 --> 00:11:53,120
Speaker 5: you know. And on the other side of the door,

226
00:11:53,240 --> 00:11:56,600
Speaker 5: I started to hear my mom laugh, and she's laughing,

227
00:11:56,640 --> 00:11:59,520
Speaker 5: and she's laughing, and she's like liking these jokes and

228
00:11:59,559 --> 00:12:04,240
Speaker 5: then she and she forgets to spank us, and I'm like,

229
00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:08,160
Speaker 5: oh wait, there's a power here.

230
00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:12,720
Speaker 2: Okay, so you're still out there trying to avoid a spanking.

231
00:12:13,240 --> 00:12:15,160
Speaker 4: Yeah, pretty much in my life.

232
00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:17,280
Speaker 5: But that's one of the things I love that I'm

233
00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:21,800
Speaker 5: glad that I found acting as well, because I I

234
00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:24,120
Speaker 5: think I needed some of that selfishness and some of

235
00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:27,440
Speaker 5: that delusion in believing in myself in that way.

236
00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:29,560
Speaker 4: Comedy can be a lot different.

237
00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:31,920
Speaker 5: And you know, you go to some of these clubs

238
00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:34,679
Speaker 5: in the green room will be the stock room with

239
00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:38,679
Speaker 5: the mayonnaise and the nacho cheese and stuff. And the

240
00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:41,560
Speaker 5: first time I'd ever actually worked with someone who was

241
00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:43,800
Speaker 5: an actor and they would have this schedule and they'd

242
00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:45,040
Speaker 5: be like, why get up in the morning and I

243
00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:47,120
Speaker 5: work out and I do this, and I do that,

244
00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:49,400
Speaker 5: and I need this, I need these teas and I

245
00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:51,200
Speaker 5: need that. And it was the first time I had

246
00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:55,000
Speaker 5: ever thought about setting those type of boundaries or setting

247
00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:58,360
Speaker 5: those type of things that I needed in my life.

248
00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:02,959
Speaker 4: Those down Oh, I mean a lot of the same stuff.

249
00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:05,040
Speaker 3: Working out. I have to work out every morning.

250
00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:07,520
Speaker 5: I like to do my inter minute fasting and eat

251
00:13:07,559 --> 00:13:10,680
Speaker 5: on my schedule. I don't like someone else to determine

252
00:13:10,679 --> 00:13:15,120
Speaker 5: when I eat, So like, even if you know I

253
00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:16,760
Speaker 5: like I eat it eleven, I eat it two, and

254
00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:19,960
Speaker 5: I eat it like six thirty to seven. And if

255
00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:21,880
Speaker 5: I'm on set, I'll just wait until we have a

256
00:13:21,880 --> 00:13:23,360
Speaker 5: little break and I'll eat. I don't you know, I

257
00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:24,040
Speaker 5: just work on.

258
00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:26,959
Speaker 3: My same thing. I do same thing, and then.

259
00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:28,760
Speaker 4: It's just water standing hydra.

260
00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:30,840
Speaker 5: And one of my biggest things in auditions and everything

261
00:13:30,840 --> 00:13:32,640
Speaker 5: now is like I like to come in not needing

262
00:13:32,679 --> 00:13:35,280
Speaker 5: anything from anyone. So I'll come with my water, I'll

263
00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:37,440
Speaker 5: come with my lunch, I'll come with my things. I

264
00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:39,600
Speaker 5: want to come in as a bonus. I don't need you.

265
00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:42,559
Speaker 3: That's interesting me.

266
00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:46,240
Speaker 2: So that's just but that's just like a mind that's

267
00:13:46,240 --> 00:13:48,600
Speaker 2: like a mindset that you want to have for the audition.

268
00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:51,319
Speaker 3: Wow, that's an awesome I wish I had known that.

269
00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:55,520
Speaker 2: I mean, that is a great, great tip any any

270
00:13:55,800 --> 00:14:00,560
Speaker 2: young actors out there. Don't come in needing something from them,

271
00:14:01,040 --> 00:14:05,440
Speaker 2: you you, you come in offering them something and even

272
00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:06,400
Speaker 2: if it's not true.

273
00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:08,840
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you know.

274
00:14:08,920 --> 00:14:10,640
Speaker 5: But that was a lot of my perspective, Like the

275
00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:13,720
Speaker 5: La cost story is so I mean, I think that's

276
00:14:14,640 --> 00:14:17,160
Speaker 5: to so many people's acting careers. Is then you sit

277
00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:20,040
Speaker 5: there and you go, what makes me different from all

278
00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:24,480
Speaker 5: these people? And I think my whole perspective in the

279
00:14:24,520 --> 00:14:27,680
Speaker 5: way it even started now landing more roles and being.

280
00:14:27,480 --> 00:14:28,800
Speaker 4: More confident in myself.

281
00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:32,960
Speaker 5: It switched from that perspective like that I had from

282
00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:35,680
Speaker 5: comedy or from being a traumatic kid, of being.

283
00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:37,920
Speaker 4: Like, what do you need me to be? Whatever you need?

284
00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:40,480
Speaker 4: Do I need to be smarmy, I'll be smarmy. Do

285
00:14:40,520 --> 00:14:42,480
Speaker 4: you need me to be a businessman, you need to

286
00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:44,040
Speaker 4: be a gang member? You need me to do this,

287
00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:45,840
Speaker 4: I'll figure it out.

288
00:14:45,920 --> 00:14:48,200
Speaker 5: And now it got to a point where I had

289
00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:51,080
Speaker 5: to just be confident myself and I go, you know

290
00:14:51,080 --> 00:14:52,640
Speaker 5: the same thing where he's like, what, there's a couple

291
00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:55,840
Speaker 5: of actors in the world, and God bless them, that

292
00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:58,240
Speaker 5: they're can mimic, they can do so many things, they

293
00:14:58,240 --> 00:15:00,720
Speaker 5: could play so many things in the world. I don't

294
00:15:00,720 --> 00:15:02,960
Speaker 5: know if that's going to be for me. I gotta

295
00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:05,960
Speaker 5: find what makes me work and what make what I

296
00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:08,760
Speaker 5: offer that is unique. And if I find a role

297
00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:10,920
Speaker 5: or I see something or they send me something and

298
00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:14,480
Speaker 5: I go, oh, I know, I could pop that or

299
00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:16,720
Speaker 5: I would make that, you know, I would. I see

300
00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:18,280
Speaker 5: how they kind of want it, and I would, and

301
00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:20,880
Speaker 5: I showed them what I can bring, and then I

302
00:15:20,960 --> 00:15:22,560
Speaker 5: just go like that, well, this is what I can bring.

303
00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:25,840
Speaker 5: If you want it, I'm over here. If you don't,

304
00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:28,640
Speaker 5: it was a blessing to me, you hopefully. I just

305
00:15:28,640 --> 00:15:31,720
Speaker 5: did it just to learn to love the work and

306
00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:34,000
Speaker 5: be like, oh I nailed that audition. Like I just

307
00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:36,760
Speaker 5: had this audition to play a detective and I didn't

308
00:15:36,760 --> 00:15:39,000
Speaker 5: get it. And then it was fine because but I

309
00:15:39,040 --> 00:15:42,360
Speaker 5: was like, oh, no one. I would never thought anyone

310
00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:44,560
Speaker 5: would be like, oh he could be a detective. This

311
00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:47,600
Speaker 5: guy could be a detective. And it wasn't a comedy.

312
00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:51,920
Speaker 5: It was like, you know, a drama, a dark comedy

313
00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:54,600
Speaker 5: if anything. But it was very real and drowned it

314
00:15:55,080 --> 00:15:58,800
Speaker 5: and doing the audition and having the cast and director

315
00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:00,720
Speaker 5: and the actual and the di rectro session.

316
00:16:00,920 --> 00:16:01,800
Speaker 4: So the director was.

317
00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:04,320
Speaker 5: There and she was like, I don't really have any notes.

318
00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:07,200
Speaker 5: She's like, that's good, And that's what I love to hear,

319
00:16:07,400 --> 00:16:10,840
Speaker 5: you know. To me, I'll never slam dunkle basketball, but

320
00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:13,800
Speaker 5: that's what when I'm like doing something out of my

321
00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:16,400
Speaker 5: comfort zone and then I hear them go like, well,

322
00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:20,080
Speaker 5: we're moving on, I'm like, oh, I just slammed in

323
00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:21,280
Speaker 5: everybody's face.

324
00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:24,800
Speaker 3: And good. Yeah. I love I love hearing that. I

325
00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:25,480
Speaker 3: love hearing that.

326
00:16:32,120 --> 00:16:33,680
Speaker 2: You know, it's so funny that you mention the word

327
00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:39,800
Speaker 2: smarmy because the very first well I don't think it

328
00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:41,320
Speaker 2: was the first audition I ever had, but the very

329
00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:44,480
Speaker 2: first movie I did was Animal House, which was nineteen

330
00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:47,760
Speaker 2: seventy seven, and I didn't have an agent, and I

331
00:16:47,920 --> 00:16:51,160
Speaker 2: was in acting school and they came by and they said,

332
00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:53,720
Speaker 2: we're looking for you know, kind of like college kids.

333
00:16:54,120 --> 00:17:00,960
Speaker 2: So they sent me over and they said be smarmy,

334
00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:04,760
Speaker 2: and I didn't know what it meant. I didn't know

335
00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:07,480
Speaker 2: what the word meant, and obviously we didn't have a

336
00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:09,600
Speaker 2: little device in our hands to quickly look it up.

337
00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:13,320
Speaker 2: So I just made a face. I hardly had any lines,

338
00:17:13,359 --> 00:17:15,639
Speaker 2: but I basically made a face that I thought maybe

339
00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:21,159
Speaker 2: sounded like what smarmy was. And the director John Landis,

340
00:17:21,200 --> 00:17:23,320
Speaker 2: he loved it. He's like, yeah, the smarty I love

341
00:17:23,359 --> 00:17:25,600
Speaker 2: when you do the smarmy like he kept saying to me,

342
00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:27,320
Speaker 2: do the smarty look. It's just so funny that you

343
00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:30,440
Speaker 2: mentioned that, because I had no idea that it would

344
00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:33,879
Speaker 2: It would be like, I don't know, it would be

345
00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:37,119
Speaker 2: like saying some crazy thing. I mean that I just

346
00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:40,280
Speaker 2: I didn't know, but it was, but it sounded I

347
00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:43,120
Speaker 2: guessed at what it might sound like. Let me ask

348
00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:47,440
Speaker 2: you something, what because I love hearing about this this

349
00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:53,520
Speaker 2: but the idea of this, this auditioning and of embracing acting.

350
00:17:54,119 --> 00:17:57,920
Speaker 2: What are the things that you you love to do now?

351
00:17:58,040 --> 00:17:59,760
Speaker 2: Or do you love them all? And do you love

352
00:17:59,760 --> 00:18:02,439
Speaker 2: them all equally? I mean, and do you love it

353
00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:03,280
Speaker 2: at all anymore?

354
00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:09,199
Speaker 5: I certainly love it. I'm loving it more than ever. Really,

355
00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:12,040
Speaker 5: what I love more.

356
00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:13,400
Speaker 4: Than anything is freedom.

357
00:18:14,080 --> 00:18:17,120
Speaker 5: And I like the ability to bounce around and try

358
00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:20,879
Speaker 5: new things and try new experiences. And that's usually how

359
00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:24,720
Speaker 5: I lead myself and pick my things. Is that, Oh

360
00:18:24,760 --> 00:18:26,840
Speaker 5: did I have ever done that before? I have ever

361
00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:30,000
Speaker 5: thought I'd do that, you know, just even little things

362
00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:32,320
Speaker 5: like one time they asked me to be on Chopped,

363
00:18:32,359 --> 00:18:32,760
Speaker 5: and I.

364
00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:34,280
Speaker 4: Was like, I can't cook. I don't know how to

365
00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:35,120
Speaker 4: cook at all.

366
00:18:35,320 --> 00:18:37,359
Speaker 5: But I was like, oh, I never in my life

367
00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:40,000
Speaker 5: would think anyone asked me to be on Chopped, and

368
00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:42,800
Speaker 5: that would be a unique experience, not every you know,

369
00:18:43,359 --> 00:18:47,240
Speaker 5: every Instead of being on these comedy things where I'm

370
00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:51,040
Speaker 5: fighting with eight comedians to be the best comedian, I

371
00:18:51,080 --> 00:18:53,679
Speaker 5: can go on this cooking show and just talk and

372
00:18:53,720 --> 00:18:57,160
Speaker 5: be naturally funny and not be competing with anyone.

373
00:18:56,920 --> 00:18:58,360
Speaker 4: But just showing who I am.

374
00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:01,240
Speaker 5: And it's opening a lot of doors for me doing

375
00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:04,480
Speaker 5: things like that, and I so I love the ability

376
00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:06,600
Speaker 5: to bounce around because a lot of them can be frustrated,

377
00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:09,800
Speaker 5: as I'm sure you know. You know, there was time,

378
00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:13,600
Speaker 5: especially in my acting career, where I was seeing a

379
00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:16,000
Speaker 5: lot of growth in class and seeing a.

380
00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:16,520
Speaker 3: Lot of.

381
00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:23,119
Speaker 5: Just my abilities broadening and my range broadening, but my

382
00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:26,560
Speaker 5: auditions weren't, you know, so I would still be doing

383
00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:29,480
Speaker 5: a lot of the same things and and feeling like

384
00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:31,360
Speaker 5: I was doing the same thing from the first show

385
00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:32,920
Speaker 5: I was on.

386
00:19:32,520 --> 00:19:35,879
Speaker 2: Undateable, And I mean the auditions that you were getting

387
00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:38,240
Speaker 2: or or what you're doing in the auditions.

388
00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:40,679
Speaker 5: The auditions that I were getting, they were, you know,

389
00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:44,719
Speaker 5: the same style, character, the same you know, just come in,

390
00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:47,360
Speaker 5: hit a button and leave. And I was like, oh,

391
00:19:47,480 --> 00:19:50,560
Speaker 5: but I'm like doing these dramas in class. I'm doing

392
00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:51,439
Speaker 5: these you know.

393
00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:54,720
Speaker 2: A frustrating part of our business, though, is that people

394
00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:58,919
Speaker 2: I always say that we have so little imagination when

395
00:19:58,960 --> 00:20:04,280
Speaker 2: it comes to casting films and television. Theater is completely

396
00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:07,960
Speaker 2: the opposite, because if you come in and you can audition,

397
00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:13,600
Speaker 2: that's it that they don't. It was never a you

398
00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:16,600
Speaker 2: never got typed. When I was doing theater, it just

399
00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:18,959
Speaker 2: seemed like if you could do it, you know, whatever

400
00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:21,879
Speaker 2: the accent or the you know, the walk or the

401
00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:24,200
Speaker 2: look or whatever it was, then you'd get the part.

402
00:20:24,359 --> 00:20:28,120
Speaker 2: But in films and television, we have so little imagination.

403
00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:31,200
Speaker 4: I think, yeah, I agree, it's one. I agree with you.

404
00:20:31,280 --> 00:20:33,679
Speaker 5: It frustrates me because I'm a big fan of just

405
00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:38,439
Speaker 5: growth and development. I love that in my music. I

406
00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:40,520
Speaker 5: love that, and I love being like, oh.

407
00:20:40,359 --> 00:20:43,600
Speaker 4: I saw them doing a little bit part here, and now.

408
00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:46,480
Speaker 5: Oh this, and then I saw this and then oh wow,

409
00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:49,439
Speaker 5: that's one of the funnest things in life to me,

410
00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:52,600
Speaker 5: And it seems such a shame that so many where

411
00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:55,960
Speaker 5: I feel, you know, the term is usually development, and

412
00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:58,120
Speaker 5: they always are like, well, I saw you do this,

413
00:20:58,440 --> 00:21:02,080
Speaker 5: so you can do this, keep doing that, and I

414
00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:05,439
Speaker 5: just you know, I worked in trap jobs when I

415
00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:08,520
Speaker 5: was young. I remember working at a bank call center

416
00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:11,119
Speaker 5: and you didn't have to have a college degree, and

417
00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:14,000
Speaker 5: they paid you like fifteen eighteen dollars an hour, and

418
00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:17,159
Speaker 5: I was like, well, that sounds great now, but I

419
00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:20,119
Speaker 5: know that's a trap because I'm not gaining any skills

420
00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:23,880
Speaker 5: other than this job. And so if I ever want

421
00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:26,800
Speaker 5: to quit this job, I don't have a college education,

422
00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:28,720
Speaker 5: I'm just either either have to.

423
00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:30,679
Speaker 4: Stay here or I have to go back to seven

424
00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:31,840
Speaker 4: eight dollars an hour.

425
00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:34,720
Speaker 5: And I felt the same way with like if I

426
00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:36,680
Speaker 5: was the key keep doing the same type of roles,

427
00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:38,920
Speaker 5: I'm like, oh, I'm just going to keep doing this

428
00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:42,159
Speaker 5: showing them the same person, and I'm going to continue

429
00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:44,439
Speaker 5: to get older and they're either going to be like,

430
00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:46,760
Speaker 5: well he's too expensive now or he's too old now.

431
00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:49,560
Speaker 5: And we found a younger version of that character. So

432
00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:53,960
Speaker 5: let's move on, and just for my heart and my life.

433
00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:58,520
Speaker 5: I like challenging myself and trying new things. So it's

434
00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:02,040
Speaker 5: been really great to be like, Okay, well acting isn't

435
00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:04,239
Speaker 5: going that great right now, so I'll focus on stand up.

436
00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:07,320
Speaker 5: And then the pandemic happened, and the stand up was

437
00:22:07,359 --> 00:22:10,600
Speaker 5: a thing that wasn't as safe for me and a

438
00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:13,359
Speaker 5: new baby, and I didn't want to be out there,

439
00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:15,520
Speaker 5: and so I was like, oh I can. I'm so

440
00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:18,920
Speaker 5: lucky I have my voice acting. And it really taught

441
00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:22,200
Speaker 5: me a lot lessons before because I was like, maybe

442
00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:24,160
Speaker 5: if I was a specialist in one of these things,

443
00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:28,720
Speaker 5: I could move further along than one of these things.

444
00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:32,560
Speaker 5: But I then was like, oh, a complex web. It

445
00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:35,159
Speaker 5: seems to be the best for me because if something

446
00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:38,000
Speaker 5: doesn't feel right, if I'm frustrated, I can at least

447
00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:39,879
Speaker 5: focus on the other thing. I love stand up so

448
00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:43,960
Speaker 5: much because it's immediate. I get the immediate reaction. I

449
00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:46,760
Speaker 5: don't have to wait for some you know, the editing

450
00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:50,720
Speaker 5: and watch it myself or see somebody else's take that

451
00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:51,280
Speaker 5: they pick.

452
00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:55,560
Speaker 3: Are you comfortable playing out now? I'm sorry?

453
00:22:55,760 --> 00:22:58,320
Speaker 2: Are you comfortable playing out now? Are you are with

454
00:22:58,440 --> 00:22:58,919
Speaker 2: stand up?

455
00:23:00,760 --> 00:23:01,560
Speaker 4: What do you mean by that?

456
00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:03,160
Speaker 3: I mean, are you doing live shows.

457
00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:05,080
Speaker 4: Oh yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, oh yeah.

458
00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:09,440
Speaker 5: I'm uncomfortable now for sure, and depends on the week,

459
00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:12,200
Speaker 5: but more so now.

460
00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:13,280
Speaker 4: And I just miss it.

461
00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:15,720
Speaker 5: It was, you know, when I didn't have it, I

462
00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:18,439
Speaker 5: really felt a part of my soul was missing. I

463
00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:20,679
Speaker 5: just and so and it really is. If you ask

464
00:23:20,760 --> 00:23:22,280
Speaker 5: me what I love the most of us, be honest,

465
00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:23,560
Speaker 5: it would be stand up because it's the.

466
00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:25,080
Speaker 4: Only one I would do for free. I know I

467
00:23:25,119 --> 00:23:26,720
Speaker 4: wouldn't act for free.

468
00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:29,520
Speaker 3: Tour are you? Are you on tour? Are you planning

469
00:23:29,520 --> 00:23:29,880
Speaker 3: a tour?

470
00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:32,800
Speaker 5: I just got off tour. I'd just been some less

471
00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:36,360
Speaker 5: shows in November as one of the best priorits.

472
00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:36,400
Speaker 4: Of my life.

473
00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:38,399
Speaker 5: Usually I have to go all the way through the

474
00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:42,840
Speaker 5: holiday series, you know, to make sure I can afford things.

475
00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:44,879
Speaker 5: And it's been nice where I was like, oh I

476
00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:47,399
Speaker 5: can end in December. I got seven month old baby

477
00:23:47,480 --> 00:23:48,520
Speaker 5: and we're just gonna help.

478
00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:50,280
Speaker 2: Congratulations, thank you.

479
00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:50,920
Speaker 3: That's crazy.

480
00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:53,400
Speaker 5: Are your second my second? I have a twenty year

481
00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:56,520
Speaker 5: old in a seven month old. So I got new material.

482
00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:06,080
Speaker 2: That's absolutely that's great. Tell me about getting better with

483
00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:06,960
Speaker 2: Ron Funcius.

484
00:24:07,359 --> 00:24:11,359
Speaker 5: Okay, it's a podcast. I really enjoyed doing. It's a

485
00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:12,400
Speaker 5: passion project.

486
00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:13,640
Speaker 3: Why haven't I been on it?

487
00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:17,399
Speaker 5: I think I asked my manager to invite you. Perhaps

488
00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:25,000
Speaker 5: things got mixed up in between the peoples, but but

489
00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:28,560
Speaker 5: I certainly asked when we work after a little bit

490
00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:31,479
Speaker 5: after we worked together or we met each other. But

491
00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:35,120
Speaker 5: I would love to have you on absolutely. And it's

492
00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:38,080
Speaker 5: just me and people either have my best friends or

493
00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:41,119
Speaker 5: people who I've always wanted to learn about. Are just

494
00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:44,159
Speaker 5: people whose stories that I've found that are interesting to me.

495
00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:48,240
Speaker 5: About getting better at your life, your chosen field. I

496
00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:53,160
Speaker 5: feel my whole life has been a big moving forward

497
00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:56,359
Speaker 5: of just like not coming from the best circumstances, but

498
00:24:56,480 --> 00:24:59,800
Speaker 5: little by little getting better at my life, getting better

499
00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:04,760
Speaker 5: how I handle things, and pushing myself forward. And I

500
00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:09,640
Speaker 5: think sometimes we get this perspective between like people who

501
00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:12,000
Speaker 5: make it and people who don't have anything, and that

502
00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:15,240
Speaker 5: people don't see the journey and don't think that they

503
00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:18,000
Speaker 5: can do it or don't believe that they have it

504
00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:18,360
Speaker 5: in them.

505
00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:21,480
Speaker 4: And I like humanizing and showing that.

506
00:25:22,760 --> 00:25:25,600
Speaker 5: Everyone that I've ever met is still dealing with some

507
00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:30,080
Speaker 5: rejection and still dealing with a thing that they're driven

508
00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:33,120
Speaker 5: to do, that they're fighting for and they want to achieve,

509
00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:36,240
Speaker 5: and I like celebrating it when I see people achieve

510
00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:38,240
Speaker 5: those things. So when I see my friends get a show,

511
00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:42,120
Speaker 5: or when I see people just achieve their dreams, I'm

512
00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:45,240
Speaker 5: big into celebrating that and then discussing how they got

513
00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:48,399
Speaker 5: there so that people don't just see the end rest.

514
00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:52,080
Speaker 5: It's like when I started comedy. My only beginning comedy

515
00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:55,440
Speaker 5: was that I watched comedy specials, so I was terrified.

516
00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:57,720
Speaker 5: I thought I had to be as good as Chris Rock.

517
00:25:58,040 --> 00:25:59,680
Speaker 5: I thought I had to be as good as some more.

518
00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:03,040
Speaker 5: I had to be as good as all these people

519
00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:05,359
Speaker 5: I saw on TV. But then they go to an

520
00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:08,560
Speaker 5: open mic and you see people just trying it and

521
00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:12,320
Speaker 5: just doing things, and you're like, oh, that's a whole

522
00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:15,119
Speaker 5: world here. Some of these people are good, some of

523
00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:18,120
Speaker 5: these people aren't good. Let me just try and see

524
00:26:18,119 --> 00:26:22,480
Speaker 5: where I fit in. And I think that's just makes

525
00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:25,280
Speaker 5: it easier for people who you know.

526
00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:27,159
Speaker 4: And obviously I'm not like, hey, you could everyone be

527
00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:28,320
Speaker 4: a comedian or things.

528
00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:30,800
Speaker 5: But I think a lot of people have a passion,

529
00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:33,320
Speaker 5: a dream, or a thing that they're just naturally inclined

530
00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:37,560
Speaker 5: to do, and sometimes we get lost in the shuffle

531
00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:39,639
Speaker 5: of that and you try to use my podcast to

532
00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:43,399
Speaker 5: regnite people towards that, and I love it when I

533
00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:46,359
Speaker 5: get great feedback because I like being funny and I

534
00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:48,240
Speaker 5: like when people are like, oh, I saw you in this,

535
00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:50,880
Speaker 5: but when you know, when my podcast sometimes people were like, oh,

536
00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:53,679
Speaker 5: I started going to therapy because I was listening to

537
00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:56,160
Speaker 5: your podcasts, or you help me get through this bad time,

538
00:26:56,320 --> 00:27:01,080
Speaker 5: or I heard you talk about you know, even Whitney

539
00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:05,840
Speaker 5: Commings talking about toxic relationships and it made me realize

540
00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:08,600
Speaker 5: I was in an abusive relationship and it helped me

541
00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:09,320
Speaker 5: get out of it.

542
00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:11,160
Speaker 4: And I was like those type of things.

543
00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:15,200
Speaker 5: I'm like, oh, I'm actually doing something positive in the world,

544
00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:18,000
Speaker 5: and that's a big you know, because I'm sing so

545
00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:20,360
Speaker 5: many and I do. I'm like, oh, the world could

546
00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:22,160
Speaker 5: be so tough and it could be stressful, but I'm

547
00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:24,000
Speaker 5: not a person who's like, oh, it all sucks.

548
00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:25,600
Speaker 4: I'm like, let me go.

549
00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:30,240
Speaker 5: Do what I can, you know, And in some small

550
00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:31,879
Speaker 5: ways that's what I try to do with that and

551
00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:34,240
Speaker 5: try to do with the charity, which is usually me

552
00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:38,680
Speaker 5: actually just giving other people's money to them, which I love.

553
00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:39,960
Speaker 3: That's awesome.

554
00:27:40,359 --> 00:27:43,280
Speaker 2: Well, I mean I love the concept just of getting better.

555
00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:45,280
Speaker 2: And I don't know if you've had anybody's ancient as

556
00:27:45,359 --> 00:27:47,199
Speaker 2: me on the podcast, but I think a lot of

557
00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:51,560
Speaker 2: times people at my age there is kind of a

558
00:27:51,840 --> 00:27:56,280
Speaker 2: thing that people joke about and say, which is, well,

559
00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:59,440
Speaker 2: I'm too old to change now, and you can't teach

560
00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:02,679
Speaker 2: an old dog new tricks. And that applies to so

561
00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:08,560
Speaker 2: many things. I mean, whether it's work. You know, sometimes

562
00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:10,600
Speaker 2: people are retired so they don't have to be a

563
00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:12,640
Speaker 2: better dentist, or they don't have to be a better

564
00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:15,320
Speaker 2: carpenter or an actor or whatever it is. But it

565
00:28:15,359 --> 00:28:18,840
Speaker 2: also applies to like a worldview where someone says, I'm

566
00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:21,280
Speaker 2: just you know, you're not going to change the way

567
00:28:21,280 --> 00:28:27,000
Speaker 2: that I feel about whatever politics or PC stuff or

568
00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:30,480
Speaker 2: or you know, don't I don't like this, you know,

569
00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:36,040
Speaker 2: woke culture or whatever these things are. It's really possible

570
00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:40,480
Speaker 2: to continue throughout your life to keep changing and getting better.

571
00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:41,200
Speaker 3: You know.

572
00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:44,240
Speaker 2: My father to me was a kind of an inspiration

573
00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:46,600
Speaker 2: in that way because he lived to about ninety four,

574
00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:49,600
Speaker 2: and this guy was always trying new shit. I mean,

575
00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:52,560
Speaker 2: I you know, he'd like he was like he's like

576
00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:56,800
Speaker 2: in his like nineties, and he started he said, I'm

577
00:28:56,800 --> 00:29:00,560
Speaker 2: gonna start doing taichi and I'm like, that is so

578
00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:04,560
Speaker 2: inspiring to me. And I feel the same way that

579
00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:07,600
Speaker 2: getting better at all kinds of things is a really

580
00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:11,720
Speaker 2: not only is it as it's not so much that

581
00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:14,120
Speaker 2: it's noble, but I think it's healthy. I think that

582
00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:18,520
Speaker 2: it makes people live longer, you know, last longer, love longer.

583
00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:22,040
Speaker 2: I think those are all really great. Uh, that's that

584
00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:23,959
Speaker 2: is a that is a cool idea for a podcast.

585
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:27,720
Speaker 2: So I'm definitely gonna check that out now. We met

586
00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:34,000
Speaker 2: uh at at school on wheels, uh, you know, quite

587
00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:36,760
Speaker 2: a few years ago, which is an organization that you

588
00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:41,000
Speaker 2: have thankfully remained in contact with.

589
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:50,960
Speaker 1: If you are inspired by today's episode, please join us

590
00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:53,880
Speaker 1: in supporting six degrees dot org by texting the word

591
00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:58,080
Speaker 1: Bacon to seven zero seven zero seven zero. Your gift

592
00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:01,120
Speaker 1: empowers us to continue to produce pro programs that highlight

593
00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:04,600
Speaker 1: the incredible work of everyday heroes, well also enabling us

594
00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:07,600
Speaker 1: to provide essential resources to those that need it the most.

595
00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:12,640
Speaker 1: Once again, text b a co n to seven zero

596
00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:17,040
Speaker 1: seven zero seven zero or visit six degrees dot org

597
00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:17,840
Speaker 1: to learn more.

598
00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:24,160
Speaker 2: So let us bring to the show Shiney Chilton.

599
00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:25,080
Speaker 3: She's here today.

600
00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:28,800
Speaker 2: The chief development and Marketing officer for School on Wheels.

601
00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:33,720
Speaker 2: We met while all three of us met six years

602
00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:39,760
Speaker 2: ago in downtown LA pretty much on what's known as

603
00:30:39,760 --> 00:30:46,920
Speaker 2: skid Row and saw this remarkable spot that you have

604
00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:50,840
Speaker 2: down there. So just for those of us who don't know,

605
00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:53,280
Speaker 2: can you just kind of explain to us what School

606
00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:53,920
Speaker 2: on Wheels is?

607
00:30:54,800 --> 00:30:58,080
Speaker 6: Yes, of course, Kevin, that was almost six years ago

608
00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:01,320
Speaker 6: to the day when you first came to cent So.

609
00:31:01,360 --> 00:31:05,040
Speaker 6: School on Wheels is a nonprofit that provides educational assistance

610
00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:09,520
Speaker 6: to children and youth experiencing homelessness from kindergarten all the

611
00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:13,480
Speaker 6: way through twelfth grade. There are over nearly two hundred

612
00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:17,320
Speaker 6: thousand students in the six counties we serve in southern

613
00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:21,280
Speaker 6: California that are living without homes, and you met is

614
00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:24,520
Speaker 6: at our only learning center in skid Row. Skid Row

615
00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:29,320
Speaker 6: has the highest percentage of homeless people in the nation

616
00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:34,760
Speaker 6: experiencing homelessness and that don't have homes, and there is

617
00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:38,160
Speaker 6: no public spaces, there's no libraries there, so we've always

618
00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:41,520
Speaker 6: had a presence for the past twenty years as an

619
00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:45,160
Speaker 6: after school program for students living in and around that area.

620
00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:53,840
Speaker 2: We've heard a lot about the homeless problems in California

621
00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:57,960
Speaker 2: and Southern California specifically, is it getting better or getting worse?

622
00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:04,680
Speaker 6: Unfortunately guessing worse, Kevin and homelessness has a devastating impact

623
00:32:04,760 --> 00:32:10,040
Speaker 6: on education. You know, students move schools frequently than nine

624
00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:14,040
Speaker 6: times more likely to repeter grade. Seventy five percent of

625
00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:17,520
Speaker 6: students that don't have a home don't graduate high school.

626
00:32:17,760 --> 00:32:21,640
Speaker 6: So while School and Wheels is not a nonprofit dealing

627
00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:24,959
Speaker 6: with ending homelessness, we are trying to end the cycle

628
00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:28,400
Speaker 6: of homelessness through education and that's where our niche and

629
00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:33,120
Speaker 6: our small part in hopefully helping with this problem is.

630
00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:40,520
Speaker 2: So it's it's interesting because, you know, education, we think

631
00:32:40,560 --> 00:32:44,280
Speaker 2: of it in kind of like the reverse. There's this

632
00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:47,960
Speaker 2: homelessness problem, so we need to educate our youth. But

633
00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:51,640
Speaker 2: in some ways, if you educate our youth, and if

634
00:32:51,680 --> 00:32:55,440
Speaker 2: we have a stronger platform for education in this country,

635
00:32:55,800 --> 00:32:59,520
Speaker 2: there's much less of a chance that someone becomes homeless.

636
00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:00,600
Speaker 2: Am I correct about that?

637
00:33:01,120 --> 00:33:01,320
Speaker 1: Yeah?

638
00:33:01,360 --> 00:33:06,240
Speaker 6: The number one reason in California while people experience homelessness

639
00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:11,280
Speaker 6: is lack of affordable housing and poverty, two things. And

640
00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:14,680
Speaker 6: you know, the way to get out of poverty, we

641
00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:19,479
Speaker 6: believe is through education. We know the statistics about you know,

642
00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:22,000
Speaker 6: if you have a college degree, you're going to earn

643
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:26,640
Speaker 6: more money. But with seventy five percent of students living

644
00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:29,800
Speaker 6: in shelters and group foster homes and on the street

645
00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:34,000
Speaker 6: and in domestic violence shelters, if those kids aren't graduating,

646
00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:37,320
Speaker 6: how do they get the jobs? How do earn the

647
00:33:37,360 --> 00:33:41,080
Speaker 6: money to stop this cycle and stay out of homelessness.

648
00:33:42,040 --> 00:33:44,360
Speaker 2: It take us through like a day, like what would

649
00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:47,280
Speaker 2: what would the what would the programs do in the

650
00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:49,920
Speaker 2: course of the day or a week, just kind of

651
00:33:49,960 --> 00:33:52,360
Speaker 2: walk us through the nuts and bolts of it.

652
00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:56,320
Speaker 6: Yeah, So, School on Wheels is the only nonprofit dedicated

653
00:33:56,440 --> 00:34:00,040
Speaker 6: to educating homeless children, and we do that with a

654
00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:05,760
Speaker 6: volunteers that joiners from all over the country to help

655
00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:11,080
Speaker 6: a student experiencing homelessness. And those students are identified through

656
00:34:11,120 --> 00:34:13,719
Speaker 6: the school districts or the shelters where they're living, and

657
00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:16,560
Speaker 6: then School on Whlls goes in to provide support, whether

658
00:34:16,600 --> 00:34:21,120
Speaker 6: it's backpack, school supply, whether it's a laptop, chrome book,

659
00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:24,960
Speaker 6: whether it's internet connection, and then we match them with

660
00:34:25,239 --> 00:34:28,719
Speaker 6: a trained volunteer who helps them with their school and

661
00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:31,360
Speaker 6: helps them to catch up and keep up with their studies.

662
00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:35,680
Speaker 6: And it's an hour week shooting program. But since the

663
00:34:35,719 --> 00:34:38,320
Speaker 6: pandemic and a lot of our tutors have been online,

664
00:34:38,960 --> 00:34:42,840
Speaker 6: we can meet students more frequently than physically going to

665
00:34:42,920 --> 00:34:43,440
Speaker 6: the location.

666
00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:49,560
Speaker 2: Online thing is, actually the pandemic had one good benefit,

667
00:34:49,600 --> 00:34:52,720
Speaker 2: which is to really establish the possibility of online tutoring.

668
00:34:53,040 --> 00:34:55,439
Speaker 6: Yeah, that was a silver lining for us because we'd

669
00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:59,760
Speaker 6: been piloting a digital online program for many, many years

670
00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:03,320
Speaker 6: and we just got it, and we got the right software,

671
00:35:03,360 --> 00:35:06,239
Speaker 6: the right packaging, and then the pandemic hit and we

672
00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:11,080
Speaker 6: just very quickly retrained our volunteers to be online volunteers.

673
00:35:11,160 --> 00:35:13,560
Speaker 6: And you know, most of them took to it like

674
00:35:13,600 --> 00:35:16,600
Speaker 6: a duck to water. Some people it took a bit longer,

675
00:35:17,239 --> 00:35:19,480
Speaker 6: And most students took to it really well because a

676
00:35:19,520 --> 00:35:22,600
Speaker 6: lot of the kids were just you know, online and

677
00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:26,560
Speaker 6: there was no in person school anyway. So yeah, in

678
00:35:26,920 --> 00:35:28,760
Speaker 6: all of it, that was the silver lining.

679
00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:33,239
Speaker 2: Ron do you remember the feeling? I mean, obviously you've

680
00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:38,839
Speaker 2: stayed in touch with Shaneadan, with this organization since we

681
00:35:38,880 --> 00:35:41,719
Speaker 2: went down there, since you were good enough to join

682
00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:46,840
Speaker 2: Six Degrees down there, But do you remember what affected

683
00:35:46,880 --> 00:35:48,680
Speaker 2: you in terms of the feeling and the vibe at

684
00:35:48,719 --> 00:35:50,280
Speaker 2: the learning center.

685
00:35:50,680 --> 00:35:55,120
Speaker 5: Oh absolutely, I remember a lot of it is like

686
00:35:55,520 --> 00:36:00,680
Speaker 5: both my expectations and then what I saw, you know,

687
00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:03,480
Speaker 5: where I was going. I was a little apprehensive because

688
00:36:03,520 --> 00:36:05,400
Speaker 5: I was afraid that it would be a little bit

689
00:36:05,440 --> 00:36:10,600
Speaker 5: depressing for me and that I wouldn't that it would

690
00:36:10,719 --> 00:36:14,040
Speaker 5: just make me feel upset, and I found it to

691
00:36:14,080 --> 00:36:16,719
Speaker 5: be quite the opposite. It filled me with so much

692
00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:21,160
Speaker 5: hope and inspiration and joy and love. And then seeing

693
00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:27,680
Speaker 5: all these beautiful faces of these kids who had so

694
00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:30,440
Speaker 5: you could see, I mean, I can see the reasons

695
00:36:30,440 --> 00:36:32,359
Speaker 5: why you would get up them every morning and go

696
00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:34,400
Speaker 5: do it. Because these kids are so you see all

697
00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:37,960
Speaker 5: the potential, You see the light, You see all the

698
00:36:38,040 --> 00:36:41,080
Speaker 5: different opportunities that could be in front of them if

699
00:36:41,080 --> 00:36:44,360
Speaker 5: we can, you know, just help break that cycle. And

700
00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:48,279
Speaker 5: for my own background, you know, a getting like I

701
00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:50,160
Speaker 5: told you before, Kevin, with just being in a stable

702
00:36:50,200 --> 00:36:52,320
Speaker 5: household and growing up in the South Side of Chicago.

703
00:36:54,360 --> 00:36:59,560
Speaker 5: Art education, access to free museums. Those were the things

704
00:36:59,560 --> 00:37:02,879
Speaker 5: that save my life and stopped me from going down. Fact,

705
00:37:02,880 --> 00:37:04,600
Speaker 5: there were choices. There were a lot of the kids

706
00:37:04,600 --> 00:37:07,320
Speaker 5: in my neighborhood. We were getting involved in gangs, getting

707
00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:12,399
Speaker 5: involved in bad situations, and I was lucky.

708
00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:12,919
Speaker 4: And I was very lucky.

709
00:37:12,920 --> 00:37:15,000
Speaker 5: You know that my mom was so good is that

710
00:37:15,560 --> 00:37:19,279
Speaker 5: even though we didn't have great financial means, she took

711
00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:22,279
Speaker 5: advantage of whatever resources were available. So if there was

712
00:37:22,320 --> 00:37:24,759
Speaker 5: a free museum day, we were there. If there was

713
00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:27,839
Speaker 5: a day or there was a free jazz concert, we

714
00:37:27,840 --> 00:37:30,759
Speaker 5: were there. And so it showed me a whole other

715
00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:34,960
Speaker 5: world outside of my every day in Southside Chicago. And

716
00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:37,480
Speaker 5: so when I saw the same thing going on at

717
00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:40,719
Speaker 5: school in Wills, I was so happy and inspired to

718
00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:43,959
Speaker 5: see all these faces of every color and every race,

719
00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:47,400
Speaker 5: but for me particular, to see like these young, beautiful

720
00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:50,520
Speaker 5: black faces that remind me of my own nieces and

721
00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:54,279
Speaker 5: nephews and my sister and this uf and it just

722
00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:58,839
Speaker 5: inspired me and made me want to help, because you know,

723
00:37:59,200 --> 00:38:05,359
Speaker 5: these are just your means, and poverty doesn't define who

724
00:38:05,360 --> 00:38:09,640
Speaker 5: you are as a person, and everyone deserves the opportunity

725
00:38:09,760 --> 00:38:13,480
Speaker 5: to find who they can become. And so many of

726
00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:16,040
Speaker 5: these kids and so many people get robbed of that

727
00:38:16,239 --> 00:38:21,960
Speaker 5: because we don't have the we don't have the situation,

728
00:38:22,080 --> 00:38:24,560
Speaker 5: we don't have the organization put in place. And so

729
00:38:24,600 --> 00:38:26,680
Speaker 5: if there's a place like school on wheels. It just

730
00:38:26,719 --> 00:38:28,640
Speaker 5: felt like, of course, I mean, that's what.

731
00:38:28,600 --> 00:38:30,000
Speaker 4: Real charity is.

732
00:38:30,040 --> 00:38:32,120
Speaker 5: There's a lot of things where you know, you go

733
00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:34,000
Speaker 5: in and you're like, I don't know if I'm affecting

734
00:38:34,040 --> 00:38:34,719
Speaker 5: it things at all.

735
00:38:34,800 --> 00:38:36,080
Speaker 4: But I went in and saw.

736
00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:39,080
Speaker 5: The faces of the kids that I affected and just

737
00:38:39,120 --> 00:38:42,160
Speaker 5: seeing it happy and just even talking to them a

738
00:38:42,239 --> 00:38:44,280
Speaker 5: bit about like, oh you're in trolls?

739
00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:45,680
Speaker 4: What's that like? Oh you did this?

740
00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:48,440
Speaker 5: Like just to even open up their minds and be like,

741
00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:51,280
Speaker 5: oh maybe I could be a voice actor or something

742
00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:55,680
Speaker 5: like that is And I'm not saying, you know, like

743
00:38:55,760 --> 00:38:59,319
Speaker 5: oh I did anything too much, but I got so

744
00:38:59,480 --> 00:39:02,279
Speaker 5: much out of it. So I certainly got more out

745
00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:05,239
Speaker 5: of it than the day that I spent. And the

746
00:39:05,280 --> 00:39:07,640
Speaker 5: reason why I keep in touch and anytime I'm able

747
00:39:07,719 --> 00:39:11,799
Speaker 5: to give, or any time I've sent volunteers their way

748
00:39:11,840 --> 00:39:14,680
Speaker 5: of people who were just looking for something to do

749
00:39:14,840 --> 00:39:16,799
Speaker 5: and wanted to be involved, and I'm like, look, if

750
00:39:16,800 --> 00:39:18,880
Speaker 5: you really want to be involved in something, I know

751
00:39:19,080 --> 00:39:20,640
Speaker 5: a place where your time.

752
00:39:20,520 --> 00:39:22,880
Speaker 4: Is well spent and it has been.

753
00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:27,960
Speaker 5: Besides, anytime I can help an autism foundation or things

754
00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:29,680
Speaker 5: like that, it's always my number.

755
00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:32,680
Speaker 4: One charity to bring up and to put a spotlight on.

756
00:39:33,080 --> 00:39:35,360
Speaker 6: Oh thank you so much for the Run. And we

757
00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:39,719
Speaker 6: recently reopened our learning center after a hiatus with the pandemic,

758
00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:42,400
Speaker 6: and the first thing to go on the wall was

759
00:39:42,719 --> 00:39:45,640
Speaker 6: the TV you donated Run, so thank you so very much.

760
00:39:46,040 --> 00:39:50,560
Speaker 6: It took them a while to password it from your accounts,

761
00:39:50,960 --> 00:39:53,520
Speaker 6: but they did it, and they managed to get a

762
00:39:53,560 --> 00:39:54,839
Speaker 6: movie going for Thanksgiving.

763
00:39:54,880 --> 00:39:59,319
Speaker 2: So thank you, Shanad. You obviously have spent a lot

764
00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:03,000
Speaker 2: of your time and your energy. I don't know your

765
00:40:03,560 --> 00:40:08,200
Speaker 2: history before School on Wheels, but what is it that

766
00:40:08,719 --> 00:40:11,800
Speaker 2: you think drives you to do this kind of work

767
00:40:11,840 --> 00:40:12,440
Speaker 2: in the world.

768
00:40:14,239 --> 00:40:17,440
Speaker 6: Well, as you can tell, I'm not a native. I

769
00:40:19,560 --> 00:40:23,120
Speaker 6: grew up in West Yorkshire in England, and I moved

770
00:40:23,160 --> 00:40:26,200
Speaker 6: here over twenty years ago, and I didn't realize that

771
00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:31,279
Speaker 6: homelessness was such an issue in America. And I heard

772
00:40:31,280 --> 00:40:34,880
Speaker 6: about School on Wheels online and I just didn't It

773
00:40:35,080 --> 00:40:38,200
Speaker 6: just didn't even cross my mind that there were children

774
00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:42,040
Speaker 6: that didn't have homes, that were sleeping in vehicles, that

775
00:40:42,120 --> 00:40:46,160
Speaker 6: were sleeping in shelters. My first student that I met

776
00:40:46,480 --> 00:40:50,160
Speaker 6: was sleeping on a church floor in Ohai, and every

777
00:40:50,239 --> 00:40:52,400
Speaker 6: night the family had to move to a different shelter,

778
00:40:53,120 --> 00:40:56,000
Speaker 6: a different church that was opening the doors. They had

779
00:40:56,040 --> 00:40:59,040
Speaker 6: to be out of the church by seven in the morning,

780
00:40:59,200 --> 00:41:01,400
Speaker 6: and then the church open the doors at five o'clock

781
00:41:01,440 --> 00:41:04,200
Speaker 6: in the evening to provide dinner and a safe place

782
00:41:04,280 --> 00:41:09,359
Speaker 6: to sleep. And once I saw that, I couldn't see it.

783
00:41:09,520 --> 00:41:12,200
Speaker 6: And you know, working with an eight year old little

784
00:41:12,200 --> 00:41:17,360
Speaker 6: girl for whatever reason, her family were in a homeless situation,

785
00:41:17,560 --> 00:41:20,839
Speaker 6: it had absolutely nothing to do with her, and she

786
00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:27,000
Speaker 6: was just, you know, a terrible in a terrible situation

787
00:41:27,160 --> 00:41:30,920
Speaker 6: and going through such trauma that you know, doing a

788
00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:34,320
Speaker 6: homework that night or thinking about a test for school

789
00:41:34,600 --> 00:41:38,080
Speaker 6: was just very difficult. But it was very easy for

790
00:41:38,160 --> 00:41:41,760
Speaker 6: me to help her with that, with her homework with school,

791
00:41:41,960 --> 00:41:46,879
Speaker 6: to give her a backpack in school supplies. And when

792
00:41:46,880 --> 00:41:49,400
Speaker 6: I first met the founder ag and Stephens of School

793
00:41:49,400 --> 00:41:52,680
Speaker 6: on Wheels, she said, it takes so little to make

794
00:41:52,719 --> 00:41:55,200
Speaker 6: a difference in the life of a child, And that's

795
00:41:55,280 --> 00:41:58,239
Speaker 6: just stuck with me ever since. If you can help

796
00:41:58,239 --> 00:42:00,760
Speaker 6: a child make their day a bit better, a bit brighter,

797
00:42:01,200 --> 00:42:04,520
Speaker 6: give them some hope, give them a laugh, make learning fun,

798
00:42:05,600 --> 00:42:08,520
Speaker 6: then you know, that's why I do it. The kids

799
00:42:08,640 --> 00:42:11,640
Speaker 6: like Ron said, kids are just kids, and they all

800
00:42:11,680 --> 00:42:13,880
Speaker 6: want the same They all want to beloved, and they

801
00:42:13,920 --> 00:42:16,799
Speaker 6: all want to, you know, do the number one job

802
00:42:17,480 --> 00:42:19,840
Speaker 6: of a child is to go to school and learning

803
00:42:19,920 --> 00:42:24,080
Speaker 6: and school and meals really helps them do that. And yeah,

804
00:42:24,120 --> 00:42:25,200
Speaker 6: that's why I'm still here.

805
00:42:25,760 --> 00:42:26,399
Speaker 3: Or do you have.

806
00:42:26,320 --> 00:42:29,960
Speaker 2: Any I'm curious about some of the kids that we

807
00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:33,320
Speaker 2: met those six years ago. Are you able to track

808
00:42:33,520 --> 00:42:35,959
Speaker 2: any of the of the kids and see how they're

809
00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:37,880
Speaker 2: doing and as time moves on?

810
00:42:38,680 --> 00:42:41,000
Speaker 6: Yeah, So, School and Wheels has been around for almost

811
00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:45,239
Speaker 6: thirty years. It's our thirty anniversary next year. And when

812
00:42:45,239 --> 00:42:49,360
Speaker 6: I first started, parents didn't have cell phones mobile phones,

813
00:42:49,600 --> 00:42:52,080
Speaker 6: in fact, in order to stay a shelter. It was

814
00:42:52,160 --> 00:42:56,799
Speaker 6: considered an additional expense that families didn't need. But with

815
00:42:56,920 --> 00:43:00,440
Speaker 6: social media and more children having mobile phone owns, and

816
00:43:00,440 --> 00:43:02,959
Speaker 6: then obviously the pandemic, a lot of students are now

817
00:43:03,239 --> 00:43:07,520
Speaker 6: connected and have laptops and computers. We can keep in

818
00:43:07,520 --> 00:43:10,400
Speaker 6: touch with them much more. And it's fabulous when a

819
00:43:10,440 --> 00:43:12,600
Speaker 6: student gets back in touch with you. I met my

820
00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:18,640
Speaker 6: first ever student, Josh, a few months ago. We drove

821
00:43:18,680 --> 00:43:23,360
Speaker 6: to meet him. He's now mechanic and he lives in Oregon.

822
00:43:23,640 --> 00:43:25,640
Speaker 6: And it was just so fabulous to be able to

823
00:43:25,719 --> 00:43:27,880
Speaker 6: keep in touch with him and see how he's doing.

824
00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:30,760
Speaker 6: So a lot of our volunteers keep in touch with

825
00:43:30,800 --> 00:43:34,080
Speaker 6: the families and the children that they tutor, and then

826
00:43:34,320 --> 00:43:39,640
Speaker 6: we've had students that have come back to be tutors. So,

827
00:43:39,680 --> 00:43:41,800
Speaker 6: for example, at the Learning Center, we have had several

828
00:43:41,840 --> 00:43:45,080
Speaker 6: students that were once attending the after school learning center

829
00:43:45,440 --> 00:43:49,560
Speaker 6: have come back as adults and then shoot, yeah, and

830
00:43:49,800 --> 00:43:52,400
Speaker 6: just hearing their stories and just what a difference a

831
00:43:52,840 --> 00:43:55,960
Speaker 6: positive adult can make in a kid's life is just

832
00:43:56,840 --> 00:43:59,480
Speaker 6: so impactful to me and keeps me going.

833
00:43:59,280 --> 00:44:01,200
Speaker 3: To That's fantastic.

834
00:44:01,800 --> 00:44:04,839
Speaker 2: So I know that people listening to this would want

835
00:44:04,880 --> 00:44:09,520
Speaker 2: to know the possibilities for helping out, whether it's donating

836
00:44:09,640 --> 00:44:12,440
Speaker 2: or volunteering. So this is our time to.

837
00:44:14,239 --> 00:44:15,640
Speaker 3: Put out that call to action.

838
00:44:16,239 --> 00:44:20,200
Speaker 6: Great, Yeah, I mean, everybody can make a difference. Everybody

839
00:44:20,200 --> 00:44:23,920
Speaker 6: can change life. It's so simple. For school on meals,

840
00:44:24,360 --> 00:44:28,880
Speaker 6: we always need volunteers. We need positive adult role models

841
00:44:28,960 --> 00:44:31,920
Speaker 6: that can volunteer for an hour a week. We provide

842
00:44:31,960 --> 00:44:35,560
Speaker 6: all the training. You can meet a student online or

843
00:44:35,560 --> 00:44:38,640
Speaker 6: in person, or in mixture of both. Now, and you know,

844
00:44:38,719 --> 00:44:41,839
Speaker 6: obviously we always need donors and supporters to keep our

845
00:44:41,880 --> 00:44:47,160
Speaker 6: doors open. We're very transparent, small but mighty nonprofit based

846
00:44:47,200 --> 00:44:51,120
Speaker 6: in southern California. Ninety twer cent of every dollar donated

847
00:44:51,239 --> 00:44:54,560
Speaker 6: goes straight back into our program. And then obviously you

848
00:44:54,560 --> 00:44:57,600
Speaker 6: can always advocate if you can't volunteer or you can't donate,

849
00:44:58,040 --> 00:45:00,160
Speaker 6: talk about to spread the word. I don't think, you know,

850
00:45:00,280 --> 00:45:05,520
Speaker 6: people understand homelessness, especially in regards to children. We talk

851
00:45:05,560 --> 00:45:09,319
Speaker 6: about homeless adults on the street, but we don't talk

852
00:45:09,360 --> 00:45:12,040
Speaker 6: about families. And you know, there are over two and

853
00:45:12,040 --> 00:45:15,160
Speaker 6: a half million children in the US that don't have

854
00:45:15,200 --> 00:45:19,360
Speaker 6: anywhere to sleep tonight, and that's just so sad to me.

855
00:45:19,719 --> 00:45:22,600
Speaker 6: And you know, those kids have got a future, those

856
00:45:22,680 --> 00:45:26,239
Speaker 6: kids have got, you know, everything to live for, and

857
00:45:26,640 --> 00:45:29,160
Speaker 6: just that little extra help and support when their family

858
00:45:29,200 --> 00:45:32,120
Speaker 6: is going through such trauma really does make a difference.

859
00:45:32,920 --> 00:45:35,240
Speaker 6: You can find out all our information on our website,

860
00:45:35,280 --> 00:45:39,160
Speaker 6: School Onwheels dot org, so you can check out other

861
00:45:39,239 --> 00:45:42,399
Speaker 6: volunteers from all different backgrounds and walks of life and

862
00:45:42,480 --> 00:45:45,640
Speaker 6: why they volunteer and why they continue to make a

863
00:45:45,680 --> 00:45:48,080
Speaker 6: difference with School on Wheels And I just want to

864
00:45:48,080 --> 00:45:51,040
Speaker 6: thank you Kevin and Ron for helping us spread the

865
00:45:51,040 --> 00:45:54,000
Speaker 6: word and for being such good friends for so many years.

866
00:45:54,239 --> 00:45:57,360
Speaker 6: We really really appreciate you both, folks.

867
00:45:57,719 --> 00:46:03,799
Speaker 2: Someday we will work towards having no homeless children in

868
00:46:03,840 --> 00:46:07,799
Speaker 2: this country. Yes, but until we reach that goal, go

869
00:46:07,880 --> 00:46:11,919
Speaker 2: to school on wheels dot org and uh check it out.

870
00:46:12,040 --> 00:46:16,040
Speaker 2: And as Shand said, there's a bunch of different ways

871
00:46:16,080 --> 00:46:20,000
Speaker 2: that that you can help. And as Ron said, it will.

872
00:46:19,760 --> 00:46:21,600
Speaker 3: Give back to you.

873
00:46:21,600 --> 00:46:25,640
Speaker 2: You will feel better and more hopeful about the world

874
00:46:25,640 --> 00:46:27,719
Speaker 2: and about the situation. Uh.

875
00:46:28,040 --> 00:46:30,160
Speaker 3: Kids are kids and they need you.

876
00:46:31,280 --> 00:46:31,520
Speaker 4: Ron.

877
00:46:31,560 --> 00:46:34,279
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, SHANEI thank you so much. Keep

878
00:46:34,360 --> 00:46:35,200
Speaker 2: up the great work.

879
00:46:35,680 --> 00:46:35,960
Speaker 4: Ron.

880
00:46:36,440 --> 00:46:38,879
Speaker 3: Uh what what? How about?

881
00:46:39,000 --> 00:46:41,280
Speaker 2: How about a shout out for you? Like where should

882
00:46:41,320 --> 00:46:42,880
Speaker 2: we go? Check out your stuff?

883
00:46:45,280 --> 00:46:47,920
Speaker 4: You can? You can just google Roun Funches.

884
00:46:48,000 --> 00:46:51,560
Speaker 5: I'm around you can find me if what my podcast,

885
00:46:51,719 --> 00:46:53,400
Speaker 5: he says, called Getting Better.

886
00:46:53,560 --> 00:46:56,160
Speaker 4: I'm in my project I'm on right now.

887
00:46:56,160 --> 00:46:59,960
Speaker 5: It's called Loot on Apple TV Plus with Maya Rudolph

888
00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:02,080
Speaker 5: before I play her cousin. And it's real fun show

889
00:47:02,120 --> 00:47:03,880
Speaker 5: and I'd like to keep doing it. We got a

890
00:47:03,880 --> 00:47:05,760
Speaker 5: second season, so get on the floor.

891
00:47:05,840 --> 00:47:08,040
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, that is a good show. And that is

892
00:47:08,080 --> 00:47:09,520
Speaker 3: a good show. And you're awesome on it.

893
00:47:09,640 --> 00:47:12,839
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you, Thank you folks, thanks for your time

894
00:47:12,880 --> 00:47:15,320
Speaker 2: and really do appreciate you being here with me today.

895
00:47:17,880 --> 00:47:19,719
Speaker 3: Hey everybody, If you want to.

896
00:47:19,719 --> 00:47:24,160
Speaker 2: Learn more about School on Wheels and all this incredible

897
00:47:24,360 --> 00:47:27,640
Speaker 2: work that they're up to, head to their website.

898
00:47:27,440 --> 00:47:31,640
Speaker 3: School on Wheels dot org. School on Wheels dot.

899
00:47:31,560 --> 00:47:33,440
Speaker 2: Org, where you can find all the links in our

900
00:47:33,480 --> 00:47:36,440
Speaker 2: show notes. You can find six Degrees with Kevin Bacon

901
00:47:36,480 --> 00:47:40,839
Speaker 2: on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get

902
00:47:40,840 --> 00:47:41,759
Speaker 2: your podcasts.

903
00:47:42,120 --> 00:47:43,000
Speaker 3: I'll see you next time you